70-200L 2.8 II Weekend Shoot

[sactown024]

I rented a 70-200L 2.8 II this weekend for a client that asked me to do photos of her and her daughter. I took over 400 pictrures and chose a few to edit so far, here they are (the first 2 are my wife and son). Sorry about the quality (they all look soft), I am at work and facebook was the only copies I could get my hands on. CC welcome.

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[Rosy]

I rented a 70-200L 2.8 II this weekend for a client that asked me to do photos of her and her daughter. I took over 400 pictrures and chose a few to edit so far, here they are (the first 2 are my wife and son). Sorry about the quality (they all look soft), I am at work and facebook was the only copies I could get my hands on. CC welcome.

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They look very nice

 

[theraven]

I like them all, great shots, the only thing bugging me is the house in #3 is not quite level, even though it is blurred it draws my eye away from the subject!

 

[sactown024]

Didnt even notice that "theraven", thanks for pointing it out!

 

[tirediron]

Nice, solid set. I would suggest framing to avoid things like the cropped elbow in #4 and toes in #5 if at all possible.

 

[Tee]

Agree about clipping the appendages (a habit of mine, too). Number 5 is standout even with the missing toes. #2 is nice as well and I think a little space on the child side would give the viewer more room to enjoy it.

 

[MLeeK]

Is that your wife and new little one? He is CUTE!
You seem to have had focus issues? Or is it how you have resized? Try uploading your facebook sized images here or to flickr.
Your exposures look great. 4 is a bit heavy on the warm tones, but the rest look nicely warm.
You have typical right handed tilt-itus. I have it HUGE and I swear I have to level every. damn. image. I shoot. The house one and the wall are the ones that really show it here.

 

[sactown024]

These are facebook photos but I did have some focus issues, not sure what i was doing wrong, so annoying! I think I might have been moving slightly during some of the shutter clicks, idk. I was using selective focus points and trying to put it on the eye, i think I had the same issue you told me before, I was shooting in a dark shaded area in AV and I think my shutter was down to 1/40 at some points during the shoot! here is a full size digi copy that was shot at 1/60 just be sure to use full screen and click on image to zoom (as if you dont know lol)

i really need to start paying better attention to this!!! grr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pj934eb9zjxq6zq/IMG_6129.jpg

 

[MLeeK]

These are facebook photos but I did have some focus issues, not sure what i was doing wrong, so annoying! I think I might have been moving slightly during some of the shutter clicks, idk. I was using selective focus points and trying to put it on the eye, i think I had the same issue you told me before, I was shooting in a dark shaded area in AV and I think my shutter was down to 1/40 at some points during the shoot! here is a full size digi copy that was shot at 1/60 just be sure to use full screen and click on image to zoom (as if you dont know lol)

i really need to start paying better attention to this!!! grr

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pj934eb9zjxq6zq/IMG_6129.jpg

Yeah, it's your shutter speeds. You can get a clean image that slow, but it won't be nearly as sharp as an image where you used an appropriate shutter speed.
More than learning not to tilt-that's fixable-you have GOT to learn to watch those shutter speeds like a hawk if you are in aperture priority. You can fix a tilted image easily if you are leaving enough room for the inevitable crop factors. You can't fix a blurry one.

One way to combat tilt is on a lens like the 70-200 move the tripod mount so that when you are holding it where you are comfortable it is level.
Smaller lenses I haven't found a trick for yet.

 

[sactown024]

aahh good idea!

when using a lens like the 70-200 2.8 is it normally okay to shoot wide open when shooting more than one subject? for instance on the 50mm 1.8 the DOF is so shallow of course you would never get 2 people in focus...

and yes that is my wife and kid, thank you, i never loved something so much until he came!

 

[sactown024]

I am not advertising but feel free to check out the entire photoshoot on my Facebook. facebook.com/ncphotoshoot

 

[MLeeK]

aahh good idea!

when using a lens like the 70-200 2.8 is it normally okay to shoot wide open when shooting more than one subject? for instance on the 50mm 1.8 the DOF is so shallow of course you would never get 2 people in focus...

and yes that is my wife and kid, thank you, i never loved something so much until he came!

I hear that it is sharp wide open, so the stopped down rule doesn't apply much at all. BUT, it still is a matter of DOF. DOF is controlled by the aperture AND by the distance to the subject. Distance either by foot OR by zoom. So if you use a 200mm zoom and stand back 50 feet you might as well have just walked closer because it's the same.
Which leads to the guidelines I try to follow roughly and teach: This has no SCIENTIFIC bearing or anything remotely REAL, it just happens to work. for 2 subjects I start at about 3.5 for my minimum. From there on out your subjects and your aperture should be roughly equal. I stop at about f/11. Family of 7? F/7.1
Now I did say it's got no base in reality-so if you are shooting 6 people whose faces are all on the same plane of focus you could probably shoot them at f/2.8. And if you are shooting 12 people who are all over the football field f/11 may actually not be enough.

 

[MLeeK]

There are some gorgeous shots in that first set I looked at.
Your black and whites tend to be very dark. If you are just converting they usually need to be bumped up either in exposure or brightness, whichever your personal taste is. They should be black, white and everything in between, but those tones should also be in the main focus of your image. So if you have something in the background that is beyond white or black it's fine, as long as your subjects cover your range.

 

[sactown024]

wow thats a cool rule of thumb.... will def be using this next month as I am doing a family shoot, which I am kind of dreading because they always seem boring to me, i really need to find a good way to pose them and a fun angle to shoot from... thought about bringing a ladder for something different.

 

[sactown024]

Leek - those flashpoint strobes you linked before in another thread... do those have built in RF triggers? if not, how do you trigger them wirelessly or don't you?